please empty your brain below

In your example of off peak fares from Surbiton to Waterloo you have neglected to apply the off peak cap which would reduce the amount charged to £7.50. There is still an increase in fares but not as high as you have stated.

The effect of capping in partly negating the impact of the PM peak period has not really been picked up in all of the comments over the last day or so. The PM peak mechanism has applied to the tube, DLR, Overground and interavailable NR routes for the last year and I can't recall hearing a great debacle about it.

Oysterisation?!?! That's not a word!

Fare rises maybe, but it's still peanuts compared to the cost of running a car (and many people outside large cities and towns have no choice over this).

No-one gets excited by the fact motorists are cash cows any more.

The ES yesterday was proclaiming that, due to PAYG, some fares would drop by "30\\%".

Their clever example involves an off-peak fare from Surbiton to Waterloo, currently at £5 single, £6.50 return. With PAYG it'll fall to £3.20 each way. So for your single you may save 30\\%, but if you ever want to come home again (and most people do), you'll end up saving just 10p (1.5\\%). The drops in fare are just re-baselining single fares to be half the price of a return (rounded down).

Oysterisation?!?! That's not a word!

It is now.

Thanks for making that clear.

{shakes head in disbelief as he clambers back on his bike}

Re railcards - thanks for the advisory. At present, 16-25 railcard holders can get that 33\\% dicount loaded onto their Oyster card, thereby benefiting from a discount on the daily cap.

Perhaps a similar deal could (should?) be arranged?

Meanwhile, although I've not given it a detailed look yet (and I look forward to yours and other blogs' thoughts and reviews), I like the new World of Oyster map.

Notable of course is that all TfL Services are now in block colour - Overground, Tramlink and DLR all in Underground-style lines, with the outlined colours for National Rail.

Am sure others may/will disagree, but I think this is A Good Thing

There is no technical reason for not giving Gold card holders the discount.

Rail staff use "privilege Oyster cards" which automatically charge them at a discounted fare. Exactly the same system could work for Gold card holders - if enough of you *make a fuss*!

"Oysterisation": the beloved Boris (classics-educated, remember) used "Oysterised" in an early transport pronouncement, and the audio clip is still used by one of the London local radio stations as a trail for Mayor's Question Time, so blame him not dg!

Regarding the Gold Card question, the situation's worse than you set out in your answer to your question, DG.

Even if you do queue up for the paper ticket, you won't be able to get the £2.05 paper ticket any more because they're abolishing off-peak return paper tickets!

So your only options for getting a Gold Card discount are single paper tickets (fares as yet unknown but probably similar to/the same as now) and paper travelcards. Examples my wife and I have worked out result in 39\\% to 46\\% increases over the current Gold Card-discounted return fare.

And well done for pointing out the ridiculous way the media have swallowed the rail company's PR about savings on single fares. Who travels in one direction in a day more often than in both? Anyone? Thought not.

Oh, "rail companies' PR", that should've been. Forgive me my pluralisation and apostrophisation error in relation to Oysterisation.

Who travels in one direction in a day more often than in both?

Most people who aren't commuting, I'd've thought (obviously home->work->home is a return journey, but you'd be unlikely to use PAYG for that).

For example, if I go out on a Saturday then it'll usually be something like train/Tube to town, bus/Tube to somewhere else in town, and night bus/cab home.

The lack of Gold Card on Oyster is a swizz, though.

I am disabled and use a Freedom Pass.

Can I now travel on "oysterised" sections of National Rail for free?

@Flash - AFAIK you have always been able to travel on National Rail up to certain stations for free (after 9.30am weekdays & all days weekends) with a Disabled Freedom Pass. Shouldn't change now, and I can't see why Freedom Pass holders would need to get an OEP so should be fine. (I hope!)

http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk...nwhere/
rail.htm


John B - I'm not a commuter either but it's extremely rare for me not to get the train home again when I go into London (by train) for the evening - ditto lots of others I know around here (south-eastern suburbs). I take your point that it's not as universal as I suggested but I don't think the reverse accounts for a big majority, as you're suggesting, either.

It seems wilfully deceptive of the rail companies' PR teams to issue big headline price falls for single fares and not mention returns. But then I suppose wilful deception is what PR teams are paid for

Totally agree about the great Gold Card swizz, of course.

It's not quite the first official map to show the nu-circle line, the first is a partial map showing the entirity of it, as distributed in the "The Circle Line is Changing" leaflets.

Paul - I suspect it varies by area; if you're somewhere where bus vs train is marginal (so c.z1-3) then it'll be more plausible than returning to Croydon - especially as the trains to Croydon run all night. Obviously the headline figures are a bit misleading, but I approve of the move away from penalising multi-leg/multi-mode journeys.

Just a minor point but the mistake DG points out isn't really one. On the TFL pdf map those stations that are served by less than four trains an hour have a crucifix symbol, such as Sanderstead, Riddlesdown and Upper Warlingham (down the bottom, just left of the huge British Rail symbol).

As for not giving Gold Card discounts, it seems a bit like we (in South London) have waited so long for the "Oysterisation" and yet it still like the train companies are resisting in any minor way they can. But maybe the actual plan is the total removal of the discount within the zones.

And finally, I think the solid colours for all TFL lines is the way to go.

Chris - Yes, I know that stations with fewer than four trains an hour are marked on the map with a dagger. That bit of the key is correct, and helpful. And yes, that's all the public will notice. But the bit of the key that mentions "station names in black" IS wrong.

DG, right, I've spotted it. The wording is different on the pdf (tfl website) compared with the jpg (via blogspot).

My guess is tfl thank you very much for spotting the original error... but they forgot to mention it.

PS, IMHO I think that all the names should be in black, and the crucifix is pointless "information creep", along with the only station on the map with a info box - "Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich". Why?

"Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich" is the actual name of the DLR station. Likewise Custom House for ExCel.

I'm delighted to see the official pdf map is now correct. It definitely wasn't yesterday.
Today's hurried update is appreciated.

Blue Witch - good point, if you consider running costs as sunk and evaluate journeys on a petrol vs. train fare basis, poor implementation of Oyster on NR and the Gold Card fiasco are unlikely to tempt me from my car for most journeys around South London in the near future

Here's another question to: Will there be price capping on PAYG when using the trains? Your Surbiton calculation (one off peak, one 'new peak' journey) means that it will be more expensive to use PAYG instead of buying a one day off peak travelcard and more expensive than the current Z1-6 price cap.

Yes - price cap will apply on NR at the same rates as Travelcards for the relevant zones, ie 50p-ish more than the current price cap (and for capping purposes, only the AM peak counts - PM peak journeys are peak fare, but count towards the off-peak cap).

I have a 16-25 Railcard (yes, I know, sorry); does this mean I'll automatically get a third off all National Rail journey prices? I can't find anything that tells me.

Pedant alert:

"Q: Which National Rail journeys will still be charged at (cheaper) TfL rates?
A: Marylebone → Amersham; Marylebone/Paddington → West Ruislip;"

WEF 14 Dec 2009 the daily Chiltern train into and out of Paddington will be reduced to a single train running out of Paddington (it will not be in passenger service when it runs in to London).

As the train leaving Paddington (@1136) will not stop until Gerrards Cross, it will not normally be possible to travel solely on a National Rail Journey between Paddington and West Ruislip.

I got my National Rail Senior Rail Card put on my Oyster card some time ago (not a London resident, so I can't get the free travel).

I had to specifically go and ask, and could only put it on one of my cards (I am in London often enough to have a spare).











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